Marshall Allen

As a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra since 1958, Marshall Allen was there at the inception and flourishing of the avant-garde jazz scene of the 1960s. Sun Ra, who passed away in 1993, led one of the most experimental, and most controversial jazz orchestras of that, or any, time. Allen played saxophone, and any other instrument Sun Ra encouraged him to tackle, and later took on the leadership of the Arkestra and Sun Ra archives. He has continued to innovate and collaborate well into his 80s.

Sun Ra's uncompromising approach to music included not only esoteric creative principles and an obscure cosmology of music, space and history, but one of the wildest concerts experiences around (captured on the 1974 film "Space is the Place"). Long before the nearly mandatory use in 60s rock shows, Sun Ra experimented with lights, costumes, dancers and background films during concerts. Sun Ra knew that music was as much a visual experience as an aural one.

Allen recalled Sun Ra's event-creating passion in an interview at his hotel and explained why he enjoys collaborating with filmmaker James Harrar, an artist more than half his age. Hooking up with Harrar for his film and live music tour of Japan, Allen's spryness and easy laugh, undiminished by months of world-wide touring, were convincing evidence that creating rare and challenging art—whatever the medium—is a very good life indeed.

Is it different playing music to film?

No, not really. The music is made to fit the film. It's like any other thing you put music with. Other movies have a story, though. We had some story behind this one too, I guess, but we don't really have a story. I watch the film, and he tells me what the feels about it. We talk a lot about the film and what he's doing with it, and what particular segments might fit in terms of music. He knows the film better.

You must know the archival films of Sun Ra better though.

Yeah, well, I'm in them! These are just bits and segments. Sun Ra had a lot of films he made. Some have sound with actions, and some we were going to put music behind them later. In his head, he did everything; he directed, put the music and made films that explained his ideas. He always made loads of film. No one could put them together but him. We had photographers and filmmakers with us all the time.

What kind of films did Sun Ra and the band do?

We had one dancing in the streets and one at the Sphinx. The lights, the costumes, and all those things, he was doing those long before anyone else. He's got these blinking lights, strobe lights and little robots running all over the place. He had people recite all his poetry. Then, there was another one where the whole band would have a painting. Everyone in the band had a painting, and we'd walk around the audience to show them around, while the others were chanting or drumming, you know.

So, Sun Ra wanted to combine music and art?

Sun Ra wanted to represent art, music and power, all together. That was in the 60s. We had the music, but Sun Ra wanted to have a show band with color and sound. He had big bulbs on stage flickering and he'd show movies we made in the background behind the band. All of that in one show.

Did that distract from the music?

It was a show band. Sun Ra had a good swinging band with good percussion and syncopation. He wanted to keep the rhythm for the dancing girls. He always had eight or ten dancers in the band, really good dancers. We'd watch them as they danced, and play music for them. Early on, Sun Ra did music for all those early show bands, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie and others. That was always part of it.

Are all those films in the Sun Ra archives?

He did quite a bit of film, but somehow the films got scattered. Some have small segments. Some are all cut up, and just little parts left. The BBC has some interview film. Somebody has got them, but it's all over the place. When we made the films, Sun Ra was always adding missing parts, but he just kept adding stuff. It was quite a mess. Only Sun Ra could figure it out, like a jigsaw puzzle. But he went to another planet.

Were the films part of Sun Ra's philosophy?

For Sun Ra, music was the language. He was bringing people into the new age. He would get a bunch of people together, and then he would close the circuit. He was constantly talking. Expressing all these things that you didn't understand. He always said that the music is not for now; this is for the future. So, everybody that heard the music was in another dimension. Now, a generation is here and they can understand what it was. If you didn't understand and see then, you can now.

(Originally published in The Japan Times July 2006)